This story should serve as a warning to patients: If your doctor uses an iPad, iPhone, or Android to access your electronic health information, Google and Apple may be collecting, using, or selling it.

QUOTE: “Amid rising scrutiny of their practices, Google Inc. defended the way it collects location data from Android phones, while Apple Inc. remained silent for a third day. The companies’ smartphones regularly transmit locations back to Google and Apple servers, respectively, according to data and documents analyzed by The Wall Street Journal. Research by a security analyst this week found that an Android phone collected location data every few seconds and sent it to Google several times an hour. Apple disclosed in a letter to Congress last year that its phones “intermittently” collect location data, and the company receives it twice a day.”

Do Androids, iPhones and iPads send health records back to Google and Apple every few seconds the same way they send GPS data? Right now, health data on mobile devices typically isn’t even encrypted.

Do Google and Apple collect and store health data for months, like they do with location data?

Do Google and Apple “anonymize” health data the same way they “anonymize” your cell phone: by assigning a unique number that is directly traceable back to you?

The point is, whatever Apple and Google can do with GPS data, they can do with health data on mobile devices.